December ’22 Senior Resources Guide: Seniors Before Stonewall

by Suzanne Pollak, JCA Senior Writer/Editor

Aging is hard enough. Now imagine going through it without those who used to be closest to us – or for that matter, alone. That is what is happening to some members for the LGBTQ+ community who were shunned and scorned after they came out.

Times have changed. Same-sex marriage is legal. Coworkers friends, and even family are more likely to be understanding. According to a Gallup poll that was released more than one year ago, support in the United States for legal same-sex marriage has been trending upward and stands at 70%

But many senior adults were born during very different times. They were alive when President Dwight Eisenhower signed and executive order prohibiting homosexuals from working in the federal government in 1953. Many came of age around the time of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.

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